Bleed
by HK Keiji
Summary: [Gaasaku] Gaara in his sandbox, meets Sakura. They meet again, many years later... fluff, love, angst
1. 私の記憶

**Disclaimer - I don't own Naruto... yet.**

**Title - **Bleed**  
**

* * *

Gaara sat in the sandbox, digging his fingers into the soft shifting sand and trying to grip it. He watched with cold and shallow green eyes at the other children laughing and smiling, running around the park. 

No. He didn't play with them. He _couldn't _play with them. He knew he was hated by everyone.

So he sat in the sandbox.

Alone.

He sighed and started to build something out of the sand, nothing in particular, but only to pass time. The sand sometimes moved on it's own, as if it were alive. Yes, Gaara was afraid of the sand, but the sand was his only friend. He liked the sandbox. No one else played in the sandbox.

He remembered the first time anyone actually came close to the sandbox.

----

_A ball bouncing to his feet. He reached out and picked the ball up, then looked at the children._

_"Can I play?" Gaara asks, stepping out of the sandbox. The children back off a bit, their faces wearing an expression of fear. "Please?" Gaara asks, this time a little more desperate. He notices the children moving away quickly and he drops the ball at his feet._

_"Don't leave me!" He cried out, reaching with his hands to grasp the air. Sand appeared. Sand appeared because he was being hurt. He wanted to be accepted; he just wanted to have friends..._

_----_

"Hello."

A little girl was standing next to his sandbox_. No one ever comes close to the sandbox... _Yet this girl didn't look worried at all. In fact, she smiled at him and gave a little wave from the side of the sandbox.

She had strawberry pink hair, sweetly held back in a red headband.

"You have green eyes too," She says with a smile, as she notices that Gaara is looking at her with unblinking eyes.

Gaara didn't know what to say. It was the first time anyone had smiled at him. _She's right. This is the first time I've seen someone else with green eyes._

"And I like your hair," She continued to say. She had pink hair. Gaara had red. "Red is my favourite colour," She said.

"Red... is the colour of blood..." Gaara whispered, repeating the words that had been engraved in his mind. However, his voice was so quiet that the girl didn't seem to hear him.

"Do you want to play?"

"Play?" Gaara asked quietly. He curled his knees up to his chest and hugged them tightly, rocking back and forth slightly. "Play what?"

"Let's play nurse!" The little girl chirped happily. She took a step into the sandbox. Gaara's eye's widened. The girl sat down next to him onto the sand as if she didn't have a single worry in the world. _She's not scared of me...?_

"I'm Sakura."

For the first time, Gaara was able to smile back. It was a small and slight smile, but a smile nonetheless. Sakura smiled back.

"I'll be the nurse, you can be the patient."

"Alright," Gaara said, biting his lip nervously because he didn't know what to do.

"Do you have any injuries?"

Gaara looked down. "No." He said in a quiet and cold voice. "I never… I never get hurt."

Sakura tilted her head and looked at him curiously. "Everyone gets hurt. A scratch? A bruise?"

"Nothing," Gaara whispered, hugging his knee's even tighter. "Just… loneliness…"

"I know how to cure that!" Sakura suddenly said, giving him a sweet smile again.

"R-really?" Gaara blinked, looking up at the pink haired girl with slight surprise. A glimmer of hope flashed through his jade eyes.

Out of nowhere, Sakura hugged him. Two arms wrapped around his neck, and for a moment the sand whirred warily in the air as if unsure whether it was an attack. The sand settled. Gaara slowly let go of his knee's, and began to hug Sakura back. For some unknown reason... he felt...

"Sakura! SAKURA!" A woman came rushing towards the sandbox. "Get here at once!"

Gaara kept holding onto Sakura, shutting his eyes tightly and never letting go. _Don't leave... Don't leave..._

The woman grabbed onto Sakura and ripped her out of Gaara's hold. Gaara's green eyes opened, flowing with tears that he didn't notice. The woman took a step back as she saw the upset Gaara, looking horrified. Sakura tried to wriggle out of her grasp.

"Wait, he's my new friend!" She tried to say, but the woman was already dragging her away. "I want to know his name..."

Gaara opened his mouth to say his name, but Sakura's mother rushed her away. "You don't want to mix with him, he's a demon…"

Gone.

Like everyone else, she was gone.

* * *

xx keiji 

i couldve written it better... but... but... (cant find good excuse xD ) HEY LOOK A KITE...


	2. 雨は落ちる

**Disclaimer - I don't own Naruto **

**Bleed**

* * *

_10 years later..._

Gaara traced his finger in the sand, almost ceremoniously, his eyes slightly faded. It was clear that he was deep within his own thoughts, the eyes occasionally frowning slightly with discontent from remembering something uncomfortable. Sometime's he'd pause and dig his fingers into the sand, a child-like habit that he had maintained over the years. The sand was soft, slightly gritty, but a soothing texture he had grown used to.

He frowned a little harder to himself this time, the green irises almost blacked out from the narrowed slits. He gripped at the sand, frustrated at how it seemed to slip from his fingers time and time again. He was thinking of his mother.

Or rather, the gift his mother had left him.

He shut his eyes, trying to dispel all the insidious thoughts from his mind.

Once again he re-opened the letter in his hand, that he had recieved a few days ago.

_Hey Gaara! _...the letter read.

_You and I are on the same team, with Shikamaru! Won't that be great? I can't wait til you get over to Konoha... it's been real depressing ever since our best friend left. Remember my friend I told you about? The girl I have a crush on? She's still pining over him. That bastard doesn't deserve her love. _

_Anyhow, what's up in Suna? I know you hate writing letters and that you probably think I'm annoying, but hey, you and me, we're the same yeah? _There was a large scribble of a cheesy grin in the gap.

_I got to run now, the ramen shop will close in an hour and I need to eat. I'll take you to ramen sometime, it's delicious! My friend doesn't think so... I hope you'll like the stuff! Ahhh my sensei is waiting for me. Bye!_

_Naruto _

_PS: You'll like Konoha, I bet you'll make loads of new friends._

Gaara folded the piece of paper and inserted it back into the envelope, like he always did. The Hokage of Konoha had decided to introduce Naruto to Gaara a few months ago, to try and get him to be more social.

See, the thing Naruto and Gaara had in common were that they were both jinchinkuri. Demon vessels. However Gaara found Naruto annoying, and making friends was not on his list. He saw no point in giving trust to others who'd merely use it to their advantage and crush you in return.

But he had no choice. The Kazekage and Hokage had arranged for him and his siblings to go to Konoha and offer assistance. He was going to be placed on a team with this Naruto and Shikamaru, even though he never needed a team and never would. Teamwork was weakness.

Now he was on his way to Konoha, with Temari and Kankuro.

He stood up from the ground, the sand spilling backwards back into his gourd. The two other sleeping groaned as they heard him approach.

"Wake up," He said in a quiet, yet rough and commanding voice. Temari and Kankuro had set up camp for the night to sleep, but Gaara was impatient, being an insomniac. He hated being held back by others, such as his siblings were now.

He walked on ahead, not even bothering to wait for his sister and brother to finish packing up camp.

"Hey! What about breakfast!" Temari called after him, rubbing her eyes.

Gaara made no reply, but halted a little way later to wait for them to eat their breakfast. Usually, he'd sit down and re-emerge himself into his deep thoughts, just _thinking _because it calmed him down whilst he waited. But this particular morning he was feeling a little on edge. They were going to arrive at Konoha soon.

He opened the letter again, needing to occupy his thoughts.

_...I'm sure you'll like Konoha, I bet you'll make loads of friends._

Friends like who? Friends like that so called 'damn bastard' that ran away two years ago? Or that pathetic girl he always talked about? He honestly could not understand why Naruto surrounded himself with friends anyway, when all they did was hurt you.

"Here," Temari intruded, offering him some bread and stuffing it towards him before he could protest. "Eat, or I won't let you go on any missions."

Gaara scowled at her silently and hid the letter back in his pocket, taking the bread and beginning to eat it.

"So... that's from your Konoha friend isn't it?" Temari asked, giving him a smile. "I wonder what he looks like... he said he was blonde in his other letter, remember? Blonde like me!" Temari gave a small laugh to herself.

"Temari, stop harrassing otouto, you _know _he's stressy in the morning..." Kankuro grunted. Temari placed her hands on her sides.

"Whatever. I can't wait to finally get to Konoha! And Gaara..." Temari turned towards Gaara. "...you better cooperate. This Naruto seems like a nice guy, so be nice. I'm sure he's right about everyone accepting him as a jinchinkuri..."

* * *

Naruto was sitting on the tree trunk at the meeting place, waiting for the Suna ninja's to arrive. 

_They're here! _Naruto thought with excitement, as he saw three shadowy figures begin to emerge from the depths of the forest. With a sneaky grin and a quick chuckle, he waited until they were close enough and jumped from his branch.

He would've landed perfectly on his feet with an impressive pose, had it not been for a sudden surge of... sand? whamming into his body and sending him flying backwards until he hit a tree trunk. He slid down to the ground, groaning a bit. Yep, it was the Suna ninja's for sure.

"Gaara!" The Suna girl said, looking angry with her team mate, probably the one that attacked Naruto.

"My sand acts on its own accord," he said in a toneless manner.

Naruto rubbed his eyes and got back onto his feet, recovering quickly. He blinked and looked at the red head, who still had sand swirling at his feet. A huge grin split onto his face and he ran towards the boy.

"GAARA!" He yelled, before another wave of sand hit him in the stomach again to prevent him from getting any closer. He stood there, arms outstretched, his fingers twitching just a few centimeters away from Gaara's clothing.

"Ahaha... that must be Naruto," Temari nervously laughed, seeing that the redhead was glaring at the blonde, who wasn't looking all too happy either. Temari shot Gaara a warning look, and with certain reluctance Gaara withdrew the sand.

"So you're Gaara right? I remember you told me you had red hair," Naruto grinned again, striking out his hand in another attempt to greet him.

Gaara looked at his hand with a certain amount of silent loathing, and after a nervous moment Naruto took his hand back and waved it in the air instead.

"So where's the other one..?" Temari asked, trying to relieve some of the tension exerted into the air by Gaara.

"Oh he was too lazy to come. I'm supposed to take you for dinner then show you where your apartment is. What'd you guys like to eat?"

"Nothing," Gaara muttered, giving him a silent glare.

"Eh... maybe you can take Gaara back to the apartment first yeah?" Temari quickly said.

"No." Gaara interrupted, shutting his eyes. "I don't need to sleep either. I'll be fine on my own."

"Yeah but it's going to rain soon."

"I like rain."

Naruto scratched his head, quirking an eyebrow. Gaara merely glared back at him, already dreading the fact that Tsunade had paired them up together. Just because they were jinchinkuri did not mean they shared anything in common. This blonde was loud, talkative and he radiated a sense of stupidity. Besides, Gaara was certain no one shared anything in common with him. On the other hand, there was his equally stubborn sister.

"You're going back to the apartment, and then you're going to stay there," Temari said, with final resolution.

* * *

Naruto quickly fumbled with his keys, unable to stuff it into the keyhole properly. Finally, he did, and he twisted it sharply and opened the door. He sighed with relief, because he knew that Gaara's impatient, unblinking eyes were glaring at his back. 

"This is my apartment. The hag thought it'd be..."

"The hag?"

"Tsunade, the hag, same thing," Naruto grinned. "Tsunade thought it'd be better if you stayed at my place. Temari and Kankuro are going to stay at Shikamaru's."

Gaara scanned the small living room quickly, noting how it seemed fairly empty. He knew from the letters that Naruto lived all by himself. In that case, he was less likely to explode. If there were any more people like Naruto around, he was bound to.

"You can sleep on the sofa, or in my bed..."

"I don't sleep."

"Oh yeah, right, right," Naruto grinned and scratched his head nervously. "And you're not hungry either?"

Gaara gave him an eery smile. "You're smart."

Naruto laughed and Gaara's smile disappeared, replaced with a silent stare. He turned and decided to set his gourd down in the corner of the room. The gourd hissed with the sand shifting around inside it, then quietened.

"Well, I should be going back out to eat with the rest." Naruto paused. "I invited all my friends to meet you, but I guess we can do that later."

Gaara made no response, inwardly thinking how wrong Naruto was.

"Wait," Naruto ran into his bedroom and started searching for something. He re-emerged, holding a large book. "I got all my photo's in here, most of them with my best friends. You can flick through them if you're bored or something."

Gaara looked away.

"Ack, I gotta go now," Naruto set the photo album onto the table. "Bye!"

As the door slammed shut, the apartment was filled with a resounding silence. Gaara stared at the photo album on the table, then walked past it towards the window. The dark sky was already pelting little droplets of rain, gradually hitting the window harder and harder as the rain intensified. Rain.

Gaara opened the window, deciding to climb up onto the rooftop. The soothing feel of fresh water against his skin, so rare, was somewhat pleasing. He sat in the chilled air, on top of the soaking wet tiles of the roof, listening to the pitter. The raindrops glistened on his ceramic skin, lights dancing and reflected in his jade orbs.

His eyes scanned the little lights down below the hill towards the center of Konoha, and he could see a certain bright headed blonde boy already running down the empty streets towards them. He looked away. He was only in Konoha to serve the Hokage, because of the ally treaty. Nothing else. The last thing he wanted was to make _friends. _

* * *

hummmmm i want to make this story a good one. was this chapter ok? critiscm welcome xD please._  
_

_XX _keiji


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